mroo philpott-smythe wrote:

Also, has anyone used the frozen coconut milk? Is it comparable to fresh?

I used to shell, chop and freeze coconut, then, when I needed it, take
it out, shred it, and make my own coconut milk. It was just fine. Don't
know if the commercial stuff is okay.
N.B. I didn't drink it raw or make sweets from it...I made curries.
blacksalt

I went to the Thai market today, and they had stuff I don't normally find
even at the Berkeley Bowl.

I bought some (frozen, sadly) pandan leaves that look better than the dried
stuff I had; some pandan "essence"; some frozen coconut milk; frozen
turmeric; and some Golden Boy fish sauce (I've been using Tiparos, which I
wasn't that wild about). Also Chantaboon rice noodles.

Unfortunately, they didn't have green coconut water, or that excellent
Pagoda brand of rice wine you recommended, Peter.

Next step is to visit Chinatown and find a good liquor store, I guess. %^)

Does anyone know how to use the frozen turmeric? My dad used to grow it and
used the root fresh, and the leaves also. Mainly in fish curries.

Also, has anyone used the frozen coconut milk? Is it comparable to fresh?

Thanks for any help.

sq

"mroo philpott-smythe" wrote in message
...
I went to the Thai market today, and they had stuff I don't normally find
even at the Berkeley Bowl.

I bought some (frozen, sadly) pandan leaves that look better than the
dried
stuff I had;


You went to Erawan in Berkeley? How was it? (Like I said, it's been years
since I've been there and they are at a new location.) Would you consider
it a one-stop destination for Thai ingredients compared to other places?

The SF Bay Area is kinda weird as far as Asian stores go. Seattle's
International District has: A huge Japanese supermarket that is also pretty
darn good for other Asian ingredients; a large Vietnamese supermarket (Viet
Wa) that had lots of other SE Asian stuff including fresh padan leaves;
other smaller Vietnamese stores; smaller Chinese stores; some smaller Thai
markets; etc. All basically within walking distance (except for the Thai
markets, which are just down the street.) In the Bay Area, you'd have to go
all over the place to get what's available in that small part of Seattle.
If Seattle has fresh pandan leaves, surely the Bay Area does--I just don't
know where...


[...]
Unfortunately, they didn't have green coconut water,


For that, I'd get the frozen "young coconut" plastic containers.


or that excellent
Pagoda brand of rice wine you recommended, Peter.

Next step is to visit Chinatown and find a good liquor store, I guess. %^)


Wow, how long ago was it that I mentioned Pagoda brand?! Haha! I'm not so
fond of how Google archives ever single post I've written and for all of
eternity... I've posted some funny stuff. Oh well...

I think I bought my bottle of 10-year-aged Pagoda brand rice wine in a nice
box at the El Cerrito 99 Ranch, but when I went there a few weeks ago, they
didn't have it. It's out there though! I must be. I ended up buying a
less-aged version.


Also, has anyone used the frozen coconut milk? Is it comparable to fresh?


Kasma Loha-Unchit seems to prefer canned coconut milk; she says the frozen
kind curdles more easily when heated.

Peter

"mroo philpott-smythe" wrote in message
...
I went to the Thai market today, and they had stuff I don't normally find
even at the Berkeley Bowl.

I bought some (frozen, sadly) pandan leaves that look better than the
dried
stuff I had;


You went to Erawan in Berkeley? How was it? (Like I said, it's been years
since I've been there and they are at a new location.) Would you consider
it a one-stop destination for Thai ingredients compared to other places?

The SF Bay Area is kinda weird as far as Asian stores go. Seattle's
International District has: A huge Japanese supermarket that is also pretty
darn good for other Asian ingredients; a large Vietnamese supermarket (Viet
Wa) that had lots of other SE Asian stuff including fresh padan leaves;
other smaller Vietnamese stores; smaller Chinese stores; some smaller Thai
markets; etc. All basically within walking distance (except for the Thai
markets, which are just down the street.) In the Bay Area, you'd have to go
all over the place to get what's available in that small part of Seattle.
If Seattle has fresh pandan leaves, surely the Bay Area does--I just don't
know where...


[...]
Unfortunately, they didn't have green coconut water,


For that, I'd get the frozen "young coconut" plastic containers.


or that excellent
Pagoda brand of rice wine you recommended, Peter.

Next step is to visit Chinatown and find a good liquor store, I guess. %^)


Wow, how long ago was it that I mentioned Pagoda brand?! Haha! I'm not so
fond of how Google archives ever single post I've written and for all of
eternity... I've posted some funny stuff. Oh well...

I think I bought my bottle of 10-year-aged Pagoda brand rice wine in a nice
box at the El Cerrito 99 Ranch, but when I went there a few weeks ago, they
didn't have it. It's out there though! I must be. I ended up buying a
less-aged version.


Also, has anyone used the frozen coconut milk? Is it comparable to fresh?


Kasma Loha-Unchit seems to prefer canned coconut milk; she says the frozen
kind curdles more easily when heated.

Peter

kalanamak wrote in
:

mroo philpott-smythe wrote:

Also, has anyone used the frozen coconut milk? Is it comparable to
fresh?

I used to shell, chop and freeze coconut, then, when I needed it, take
it out, shred it, and make my own coconut milk. It was just fine.
Don't know if the commercial stuff is okay.

At home, I used to grate my own, or you could buy it freshly grated at
the market. However, my little coconut grater (the kind you sit on, with
that sharp wheel on a neck) seems to have grown legs and walked away ...
I can't find it anywhere. May have to fly home to replace it. %^)

The commercially available coconut milk is so homogenous. When I was
growing up, we had the "thick milk" which was the first squeezing, and
then the "thin milk," which was second and subsequent squeezings
(depending on the richness of the coconut, of course).

N.B. I didn't drink it raw or make sweets from it...I made curries.

Since I'm suffering serious homesickness, I'm cooking a lot of SouthEast
Asian food these days, and there's nothing like a nice chilli-hot curry
with coconut milk.

Although I did make an Ayam Pedas last week that, despite 20 dried red
chillies and four fresh, was not very pedas (hot) at all!

I used to make those wonderful sweets from coconut milk, the red beans
with palm sugar, black glutinous rice, egg custards, etc., but quite a
few of them need a little pandan, and until this week I didn't have any!

sq, "needs to find hotter chillies, obviously"

kalanamak wrote in
:

mroo philpott-smythe wrote:

Also, has anyone used the frozen coconut milk? Is it comparable to
fresh?

I used to shell, chop and freeze coconut, then, when I needed it, take
it out, shred it, and make my own coconut milk. It was just fine.
Don't know if the commercial stuff is okay.

At home, I used to grate my own, or you could buy it freshly grated at
the market. However, my little coconut grater (the kind you sit on, with
that sharp wheel on a neck) seems to have grown legs and walked away ...
I can't find it anywhere. May have to fly home to replace it. %^)

The commercially available coconut milk is so homogenous. When I was
growing up, we had the "thick milk" which was the first squeezing, and
then the "thin milk," which was second and subsequent squeezings
(depending on the richness of the coconut, of course).

N.B. I didn't drink it raw or make sweets from it...I made curries.

Since I'm suffering serious homesickness, I'm cooking a lot of SouthEast
Asian food these days, and there's nothing like a nice chilli-hot curry
with coconut milk.

Although I did make an Ayam Pedas last week that, despite 20 dried red
chillies and four fresh, was not very pedas (hot) at all!

I used to make those wonderful sweets from coconut milk, the red beans
with palm sugar, black glutinous rice, egg custards, etc., but quite a
few of them need a little pandan, and until this week I didn't have any!

sq, "needs to find hotter chillies, obviously"

"Peter Dy" wrote in
. com:
"mroo philpott-smythe" wrote in message
...


You went to Erawan in Berkeley?

Yah.

How was it? (Like I said, it's been
years since I've been there and they are at a new location.)

Not bad for some things, not great for others. The old guy (owner I
guess) seemed quite knowledgeable, but lacks fluency in English and I
lack fluency in Thai. The young guy (must be a relative from the way the
old guy was scolding him!) didn't seem to know much but was friendly
enough.

I was really pleased with the rice noodles, which are really really thin
like I remember, and the Chantaboon noodles, which I would use for kway
teow, are also narrower than the ones I usually buy at the Bowl.

Would
you consider it a one-stop destination for Thai ingredients compared
to other places?

Haven't been to the other Thai markets yet. I was so thrilled to get the
pandan, I had to rush home to re-refrigerate it.

I should probably write up a report, after I've visited them all. I
printed out the whole list from Kasma Loha-Unchit's website. You know,
just in case I get stuck in traffic in, I don't know, CoCoCounty.

[snip]

If Seattle has fresh
pandan leaves, surely the Bay Area does--I just don't know where...

I'm not to be daunted in this search. Maybe tomorrow I'll look around
some more, or maybe Monday. But I did promise myself not to buy this
time. The house is filling up with food to the point where I actually had
to get rid of stuff today. Of course, in my personal lexicon, "get rid
of" means "cook and eat and force others to eat also," so no one's
complaining.


[...]
Unfortunately, they didn't have green coconut water,

For that, I'd get the frozen "young coconut" plastic containers.

Thanks, I'll try that. I used to go to the best Pho restaurant ever, on
Webster and 7th or 8th, and on that block there was a grocery store that
sold young green coconut water. Back in those days, I was too busy
working and studying around the clock to cook, so I comforted myself
buying Che Dau in big baggies to take home instead.

or that excellent
Pagoda brand of rice wine you recommended, Peter.

Next step is to visit Chinatown and find a good liquor store, I
guess. %^)


Wow, how long ago was it that I mentioned Pagoda brand?! Haha! I'm
not so fond of how Google archives ever single post I've written and
for all of eternity... I've posted some funny stuff. Oh well...

Just put a X-No-Archive, if you don't want Google to archive. I only just
discovered this newsgroup and I'm glad all those posts were archived,
I've been learning a lot just reading. Of course, I'm reading stuff from
two years ago!

I think I bought my bottle of 10-year-aged Pagoda brand rice wine in a
nice box at the El Cerrito 99 Ranch, but when I went there a few weeks
ago, they didn't have it. It's out there though! I must be. I ended
up buying a less-aged version.

I actually found a nice 3-year-old brand - I forget what it's called, but
at least it's not marked "Cooking Wine" like the old bottle. I'll try 99
Ranch, I need to buy some Rose Dew liquor for a recipe from The Peoples'
Republic cookbook. There's a supposedly-Malaysian restaurant near there
that serves a dizzying array of food, so I can go check out the cuisine
at the same time.


Also, has anyone used the frozen coconut milk? Is it comparable to
fresh?

Kasma Loha-Unchit seems to prefer canned coconut milk; she says the
frozen kind curdles more easily when heated.

Well, that would be a good reason not to buy it!

I haven't used it yet, but might make an Ayam Pedas or even a Ikan Assam
Pedas next week, if I can find some seriously hot chillies.

Today I made a Pho Gai from a recipe by Charles Phan of Slanted Door.
(This was the reason for the stock-tasting and testing I was doing last
week.) The recipe is really good, but I cut up three jalapenos and it was
just like eating bell peppers!

At least I've overcome my fear of making the fried shallot garnish!

sq

"Peter Dy" wrote in
. com:
"mroo philpott-smythe" wrote in message
...


You went to Erawan in Berkeley?

Yah.

How was it? (Like I said, it's been
years since I've been there and they are at a new location.)

Not bad for some things, not great for others. The old guy (owner I
guess) seemed quite knowledgeable, but lacks fluency in English and I
lack fluency in Thai. The young guy (must be a relative from the way the
old guy was scolding him!) didn't seem to know much but was friendly
enough.

I was really pleased with the rice noodles, which are really really thin
like I remember, and the Chantaboon noodles, which I would use for kway
teow, are also narrower than the ones I usually buy at the Bowl.

Would
you consider it a one-stop destination for Thai ingredients compared
to other places?

Haven't been to the other Thai markets yet. I was so thrilled to get the
pandan, I had to rush home to re-refrigerate it.

I should probably write up a report, after I've visited them all. I
printed out the whole list from Kasma Loha-Unchit's website. You know,
just in case I get stuck in traffic in, I don't know, CoCoCounty.

[snip]

If Seattle has fresh
pandan leaves, surely the Bay Area does--I just don't know where...

I'm not to be daunted in this search. Maybe tomorrow I'll look around
some more, or maybe Monday. But I did promise myself not to buy this
time. The house is filling up with food to the point where I actually had
to get rid of stuff today. Of course, in my personal lexicon, "get rid
of" means "cook and eat and force others to eat also," so no one's
complaining.


[...]
Unfortunately, they didn't have green coconut water,

For that, I'd get the frozen "young coconut" plastic containers.

Thanks, I'll try that. I used to go to the best Pho restaurant ever, on
Webster and 7th or 8th, and on that block there was a grocery store that
sold young green coconut water. Back in those days, I was too busy
working and studying around the clock to cook, so I comforted myself
buying Che Dau in big baggies to take home instead.

or that excellent
Pagoda brand of rice wine you recommended, Peter.

Next step is to visit Chinatown and find a good liquor store, I
guess. %^)


Wow, how long ago was it that I mentioned Pagoda brand?! Haha! I'm
not so fond of how Google archives ever single post I've written and
for all of eternity... I've posted some funny stuff. Oh well...

Just put a X-No-Archive, if you don't want Google to archive. I only just
discovered this newsgroup and I'm glad all those posts were archived,
I've been learning a lot just reading. Of course, I'm reading stuff from
two years ago!

I think I bought my bottle of 10-year-aged Pagoda brand rice wine in a
nice box at the El Cerrito 99 Ranch, but when I went there a few weeks
ago, they didn't have it. It's out there though! I must be. I ended
up buying a less-aged version.

I actually found a nice 3-year-old brand - I forget what it's called, but
at least it's not marked "Cooking Wine" like the old bottle. I'll try 99
Ranch, I need to buy some Rose Dew liquor for a recipe from The Peoples'
Republic cookbook. There's a supposedly-Malaysian restaurant near there
that serves a dizzying array of food, so I can go check out the cuisine
at the same time.


Also, has anyone used the frozen coconut milk? Is it comparable to
fresh?

Kasma Loha-Unchit seems to prefer canned coconut milk; she says the
frozen kind curdles more easily when heated.

Well, that would be a good reason not to buy it!

I haven't used it yet, but might make an Ayam Pedas or even a Ikan Assam
Pedas next week, if I can find some seriously hot chillies.

Today I made a Pho Gai from a recipe by Charles Phan of Slanted Door.
(This was the reason for the stock-tasting and testing I was doing last
week.) The recipe is really good, but I cut up three jalapenos and it was
just like eating bell peppers!

At least I've overcome my fear of making the fried shallot garnish!

sq

"mroo philpott-smythe" wrote in message
...
"Peter Dy" wrote in
[...]
Wow, how long ago was it that I mentioned Pagoda brand?! Haha! I'm
not so fond of how Google archives ever single post I've written and
for all of eternity... I've posted some funny stuff. Oh well...

Just put a X-No-Archive, if you don't want Google to archive. I only just
discovered this newsgroup and I'm glad all those posts were archived,
I've been learning a lot just reading. Of course, I'm reading stuff from
two years ago!


I was sorta only just kidding about the archive business. I don't really
care if people know I'm pro Mao Zedong, who I think is the greatest
historical figure of the 20th century. Whatever...

I do want to say that I'm glad you are enjoying the newsgroup and its
archives so much! For some reason, in the late summer, traffic on this NG
plummets. This year it was especially the case. I think most regulars
would agree that your posts have helped to pick up the pace. So, thanks for
that!

Peter

"Peter Dy" wrote in
om:
"mroo philpott-smythe" wrote in message
...
"Peter Dy" wrote in


I was sorta only just kidding about the archive business. I don't
really care if people know I'm pro Mao Zedong, who I think is the
greatest historical figure of the 20th century. Whatever...

Well, he was!

I do want to say that I'm glad you are enjoying the newsgroup and its
archives so much! For some reason, in the late summer, traffic on
this NG plummets. This year it was especially the case. I think most
regulars would agree that your posts have helped to pick up the pace.
So, thanks for that!

It's been my undiluted pleasure! Here I've been cooking away all these
years feeling homesick and alone, and suddenly, kaboom, there's people on
the 'Net who cook the same food and can even tell me where to buy the
ingredients! I felt like I died and went to heaven.

Last night we had this chicken, supposedly Indonesian, but it was cooked
in pandan leaves and Thai basil. Pretty suspicious, eh?

I'm thinking it might be a Thai recipe passed on to me by someone who
didn't know Thai food and just figured, "Oh, well, it's *some* kind of
Southeast Asian food, let's just pick a spot on the map."

I don't recall ever eating any Indonesian food made with Thai basil. %^)

It was pretty good, though.

sq

"Peter Dy" wrote in
om:
"mroo philpott-smythe" wrote in message
...
"Peter Dy" wrote in


I was sorta only just kidding about the archive business. I don't
really care if people know I'm pro Mao Zedong, who I think is the
greatest historical figure of the 20th century. Whatever...

Well, he was!

I do want to say that I'm glad you are enjoying the newsgroup and its
archives so much! For some reason, in the late summer, traffic on
this NG plummets. This year it was especially the case. I think most
regulars would agree that your posts have helped to pick up the pace.
So, thanks for that!

It's been my undiluted pleasure! Here I've been cooking away all these
years feeling homesick and alone, and suddenly, kaboom, there's people on
the 'Net who cook the same food and can even tell me where to buy the
ingredients! I felt like I died and went to heaven.

Last night we had this chicken, supposedly Indonesian, but it was cooked
in pandan leaves and Thai basil. Pretty suspicious, eh?

I'm thinking it might be a Thai recipe passed on to me by someone who
didn't know Thai food and just figured, "Oh, well, it's *some* kind of
Southeast Asian food, let's just pick a spot on the map."

I don't recall ever eating any Indonesian food made with Thai basil. %^)

It was pretty good, though.

sq